Quirky Collage Illustrations are Pieced Together Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Elisa Carareto cre­ates col­lage illus­tra­tions that remind me of jig­saw puz­zles. Spe­cial­iz­ing in bold, quirky char­ac­ters, she pieces togeth­er dif­fer­ent col­ors, tex­tures, and papers until the forms find their nat­ur­al “fit”. The blocky fig­ures are then refined with her draw­ing and paint­ings, which add fine details and pat­tern­ing to the coarse­ly-chopped rec­tan­gles, cir­cles, and tri­an­gles. This dual­i­ty is part of their charm and results in lay­ered illus­tra­tions that beg more than a pass­ing glance. So go ahead, take a gan­der. If you’re like me, you’ll want to bust out your paper and X‑Acto knife afterward.